Though it took years to be completed, today Guinea Grass residents can boast of their very own multi-purpose complex building. This morning stakeholders converged at the village for the facility’s inauguration. Our news team was there to capture the highlights and filed the following report.

Dalila Ical – Reporting

This new multi-purpose facility was welcomed with open arms by the residents of the Guinea Grass community. The initiative was a collaborative effort from the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, The Social Investment Fund and the Belize National Library Service.

Jose Hernandez – Chairman, Village Council

“This structure represent a public laboratory for our children so that they may have a place of supplemental education, a meeting place for various committees, a social projects so that they may have stability and common community areas where they exchange productive ideas may be communicated an debated and the spirit of seeking general benefit for the people of Guinea Grass.”

William lamb – Executive Director – SIF

“One of the mechanisms utilized by the Government of Belize is to alleviate poverty in our country. The Guinea Grass multi-purpose project has been financed by the Government of Belize and a loan from CDB at a total cost of BZ$368,099.00. The image of hundreds of Guinea Grass children who would now enjoy a safe community space to promote reading, culture and learning,. Knowledge one and all is critical to the development of the society.”

The facility comes equipped with a much needed library, where children can access information and books for enhanced reading activities.

Joy Isaaguirre

“In keeping with our strategic plan, we endeavor to be active as an information service for a wide cross section of the Belizean community. We strive to fulfill our social obligation of being this source along with the wholesome reading material to as many communities that we can afford to reach.”

Abelardo Mai – Area Representative

“We are known to be a Belizean society that reads very little compared to other countries in the world they have a higher reading level, they read much more than us in Belize I think it something that must be addressed. This a formidable undertaking by the government and I wish to congratulate the minister, the national agro service, the government of Belize for such an achievement and I thank you so much and we hope and we ask the chairman of the village council and the villagers of Guinea Grass that they appreciate such gift and that we work to maintain it in optimum condition.”

Patrick Faber - Minister of Education

“As you’ve said united together for betterment of the people in this area, I hope my message for the people of this constituency and the people of this village in particular, that you will cherish this building, you heard Mr. Lamb say came at a cost of over three hundred thousand dollars and that is not money that we picked up right, that is money that you pay in your taxes and these are monies that come as a part of grant monies but mostly loan funding from the Caribbean Development Bank and other entities and we have to pay it back so we can’t comeback to Guinea Grass and build another one five years down the road right so that means we have to take very good care of it.”

Eight hundred children in the village of Guinea Grass will now enjoy a safe community space promoting reading, culture and knowledge through this project. MN for ctv3news!

SIF was also instrumental in providing sewing equipment, sewing and small business/entrepreneurship training to men, women and youths in the village